September 24, 2009 20:30 - (Reads: 2374)
Mile Oak Rovers are unbeaten in Group 1. They fell behind to Burton Albion in their first game before taking a 2-1 lead into the break. Growing in confidence as the game went on they finished as 4-1 winners. Burton twice took the lead in a competitive game at Mile Oak but the hosts twice came from behind to earn each side a point in a 2-2 draw. Nuneaton Town's opening match saw them rally after going behind to two very good Tividale goals. With the teams level 2-2 at the break Nuneaton's defence held out against some excellent football played by Tividale before clinching the game 4-2. In the return Tividale's flowing football was rewarded with six goals, without reply, in the first half. A stronger second-half showing enabled Nuneaton to pull back two goals before Tividale added to their firt-half tally to finish as 8-2 winners. In their last game Mile Oak took the lead just before the break and extended their lead before Tividale pulled one back. Tividale were unable to build on this and eventually fell 4-1. Nuneaton Town started well on Saturday and led 2-0 at the change around before Burton also scored two for a share of the spoils.
Group 1 P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Mile Oak Rovers 3 2 1 0 10 4 6 7
2 Nuneaton Town 3 1 1 1 8 12 -4 4
3 Tividale 3 1 0 2 11 10 1 3
4 Burton Albion 3 0 2 1 5 8 -3 2
Group 2 has three teams on 6 points. The current leaders on goal difference are Rothwell Town who beat Corby United on the opening Saturday 5-0 largely thanks to a six minute spell in the first half which saw them score three times. On the same day an entertaining and skilful game saw Rugby Town emerge as 3-0 winners against Borough Alliance. The following week it was Borough's turn to beat Rugby although a 1-1 draw was looking the likely outcome after Borough failed to convert a penalty with ten minutes left but they did find the winner when Ryan Davidson scored with a superb shot. Rothwell gained their second win against Corby but not until after after Corby had failed to score any of the early chances they had created. Rothwell took the lead but Corby went on to lead 2-1 before Rothwell turned things around to finish on top 4-2. Saturday's games saw a sam Rogers hat-trick for Borough Alliance on their way to a 4-0 win over Corby while Rugby sent Rothwell to their first defeat. In an entertaining game at Kilsby Lane Rothwell started the better but eventually lost 2-0 to Rugby.
Group 2 P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Rothwell Town 3 2 0 1 9 4 5 6
2 Rugby Town 3 2 0 1 6 2 4 6
3 Borough Alliance 3 2 0 1 6 4 2 6
4 Corby United 3 0 0 3 2 13 -11 0
Wednesfield currently lead Group 3 with four points from three games. Bilbrook Juniors were the visitors for Wednesfield's first game which finished all square at 1-1. The return was as hard fought a match as the first had been but Wednesfield finished the game the stronger as they recorded a 2-1 victory. Bromsgrove Rovers One's only league match so far saw them thankful for Liam Murray's fine performance in goal to keep out Wednesfield's first-half attacks before Rovers scored twice in the first four minutes of the second half to give them a 2-0 win.
Group 3 P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Wednesfield 3 1 1 1 3 4 -1 4
2 Bromsgrove One 1 1 0 0 2 0 2 3
3 Bilbrook Juniors 2 0 1 1 2 3 -1 1
In Group 4 Bristol Rovers (Central)'s new side showed signs of better to come even though beaten 9-1 by Archdales for whom Lewis Doyle and Montel Youl both bagged hat-tricks. Better did indeed come for Rovers who created more chances than in the first game but still went down, albeit by a much lower margin than before, 3-0 to Archdales in their next game. Archdales kept top spot on goal difference from Stourport Swifts with a 2-2 draw after leading twice. Stourport won their first game, against Worcester City, with the only goal being scored by Luke Morris very late on. The second game between the two ended with a more convincing 4-0 victory for Swifts. Worcester claimed thier first win on Saturday when three goals from Bobbie Dale helped them to a 5-1 win against Rovers for whom Callum Carr had equalised early in the second half.
Group 4 P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Archdales 3 2 1 0 14 3 11 7
2 Stourport Swifts 3 2 1 0 7 2 5 7
3 Worcester City 3 1 0 2 5 6 -1 3
4 Bristol Rovers (Cen) 3 0 0 3 2 17 -15 0
The withdrawal of Woodbourne before the start of the season has left Group 5 with just three teams. North warwickshire & Hinckley College started well in the first game at home to Leamington Brakes but the visitors took advantage of a couple of slips in defence to score the first two of their goals before taking control and winning 5-0. The Brakes put in a fine performance the next week and produced some quality football which saw six different players, including Spencer Bradley who got three goals, score in a 9-0 win at home to NWHC who also managed to play some good passing football but found the Brakes' defence too solid for them. NWHC scored their first goals of the campaign on Saturday when hosting Bromsgrove Rovers Two. Unfortunately for them this was not enough against a strong Rovers side who were playing their first game of the season. Six goals from James Lucas and three from Jarrod Sellers saw Rovers on their way to an 11-2 win. NWHC's good passing football wasn't totally unrewarded with Ryan Evans and Joshua Edwards each scoring a goal for them.
Group 5 P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Leamington Brakes 2 2 0 0 14 0 14 6
2 Bromsgrove Two 1 1 0 0 11 2 9 3
3 N Warks & Hinckley 3 0 0 3 2 25 -23 0
In Group 6 leaders Oxford City visited Brackley Town in a game between two well matched sides a 1-1 draw was a fair outcome. Also on the first Saturday JS Soccer Two had Stroud as their visitors. Both sides produced good football but Stroud's bigger and stronger side carved out a 6-4 win in an entertaining and competitive match which featured hat-tricks on either side: from Macauley Njie for JS Soccer and Joshua Newman for Stroud. Stroud went one better on the second Saturday in putting seven past JS Soccer without conceding although both sides are deserving of credit for the passing football on display. Brackley started each half looking the better team but ended up losing 3-0 against a determined Oxford side. Brackley were better rewarded against JS Soccer. Leading by a single goal after the first 35 minutes they took advantage of second-half changes to win 3-1 with goals from five players icluding three scored by Matthew Hammond. In the other game game played so far in the group Stroud lost for the first time with Oxford taking a three goal lead into the break partly thanks to two long-range strikes before finishing 4-0 winners to maintain their unbeaten record.
Group 6 P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Oxford City 3 2 1 0 8 1 7 7
2 Stroud 3 2 0 1 13 8 5 6
3 Brackley Town 3 1 1 1 8 5 3 4
4 JS Soccer Two 3 0 0 3 5 20 -15 0
Kidderminster Harriers and Gloucester City lead the way at the top of Group 7 with nine points apiece. Harriers' opener against Dudley Town was a closer game than the score of 5-0, including a hat-trick from Callum Perks, might suggest. The next encounter was rather more one-sided with Kidderminster triumphing 10-1 with another Perks treble and three more from Jake Hollylee, Thomas Garratt's penalty provided Dudley's only goal. Dudley did better in their last game with both defences dominant in a goalless end to end second half after Gloucester's Bradley Vanstone had scored the only goal of the game. Gloucester managed probably the quickest goal of the campaign in their first match against Hereford United, scoring straight after kick-off and adding a second not long after. Hereford didn't let this setback unsettle them but despite playing some good football they ended up losing 6-1. As seems to have been the case so often in matches this season the second match proved to be a lot closer and Hereford might have gained at least a point but instead lost 3-2 after leading twice. Hereford's last game at Kidderminster needed a superb 20-yard strike from Callum Perks to give the home side the lead after both defences had controlled the early stages. Hereford took the game to Harriers in the second half after finishing the first period 3-0 down and scored with a great solo effort by David O'Connell before finishing on the wrong end of a 4-1 result.
Group 7 P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Kidderminster 3 3 0 0 19 2 17 9
2 Gloucester City 3 3 0 0 10 3 7 9
3 Hereford United 3 0 0 3 4 13 -9 0
4 Dudley Town 3 0 0 3 1 16 -15 0
Group 8 is very close with each side having won at least one game. Yate started off with a 4-2 win against Bristol Rovers (SW) after falling behind in a very closely contested match. The second game saw Yate score all six of their goals before Rovers came back with three of their own. Their last game saw Rovers score three without reply against a JS Soccer One side who were unlucky not to get something out of the game. JS Soccer had also lost their first game when falling 3-2 against Bath City in a hard-fought match which saw high levels of intensity of play and, very importantly, equally high levels of sportsmanship. In an equally competitive return fixture it was JS Soccer's turn to take the ponts thanks to the only goal of the game from Jake Williams. Bath joined Yate on 6 points after beating them 2-0 in a game notable for the quality of its attacking football.
Group 8 P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Yate Town 3 2 0 1 10 7 3 6
2 Bath City 3 2 0 1 5 3 2 6
3 Bristol Rovers (SW) 3 1 0 2 8 10 -2 3
4 JS Soccer One 3 1 0 2 3 6 -3 3
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